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President elect Barack Obama

Up until the moment where it was announced that Barack Obama would become the 44th President of the United States, I remained doubtful. I remember 2000 and 2004 all too well. I told Grace not to put the champagne back until we know for sure – it’s the sports fan’s superstitious streak that got me. I remain thoroughly amazed and impressed with America as we seemingly got this one right. I quickly wiped a tear from my eye and Iooked forward to a day where my country can return to form and begin to fulfill on the promise that we’ve put aside for eight long years.

Yesterday I volunteered and it allowed me to see people passionately go about their civic duty. It was satisfying to see so many people look past our candidates race and his Muslim sounding last name, to make an inspired choice. A choice that is all about fixing what’s wrong than it is about keeping things the same. It shows that this country is ready for the woman, muslim, jewish, hispanic, asian, or other candidate. It is the example that we all needed to show what is possible.

I have no doubt that there will be times that President Obama will disappoint me. It will be those times that I remember that he is there because he has the daunting responsibility of ruling to a divided country, but that it was this divided country that made him President. It was this very point that made me an Obama supporter – that after eight years of a administration that ignored half of the country, it was time to have a President that respected all opinions, regardless of whether or not he agreed.

I know, can you believe it’s really true? :) But I couldn’t agree with you more – at this point in our history, we need a leader who’s strong enough and smart enough to balance his own vision with voices of dissent. I do believe that he will listen, consider, and then pursue what he feels is best for the country, just as he’s seemingly done throughout his career and campaigns. He made it clear in his speech Tuesday night that it won’t be smooth sailing, but I’m sure glad to have President-Elect Obama at the helm.

It’s funny you write this because as you sent this comment, I was watching the speech one more time. And I was struck by the following passages:

“In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let’s remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.”

And this:

“But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it’s been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.”

It is this very attitude that sold me on President Obama way back in January. The singular thought that if we as Democrats were able to win the White House, that it was our obligation to remember that as President, you are not the leader of the red states or blue states, but the United States (I know – his words).

The feeling of irrelevancy that the Bush administration forced me into, was the worst effect of his Presidency. So bad that I don’t wish it on Republicans. Assigning the status of irrelevant to half the country, is not good for us as a nation, and is among the many reasons we find ourselves in the situation we’re in.

With all that – Obama has so many hopes riding on his Presidency. He has lesser room than any President has every had. But he has something else – he’s captured the imagination of people that have never felt part of anything ever before. It’s that passion that he must take advantage of if we are to succeed at this stated mission.

But it’s all so true. I’m sad looking back at the way I’d changed, over the Bush years, from being community-minded to being pretty apathetic. This campaign has made me feel involved, and I will not stand idly by ever again! I know lots of us feel that way. That might even be the best part, and the surest sign that positive change really is coming, from the bottom up.

I know how you feel – after Kerry lost, I remember sitting on a train thinking to myself that all the young people that got involved then would never do so again. I am so happy to say I was wrong. I did more than I did back then – and now I feel as if it’s all on us to help him fulfill the goals he has set.